India's Sports Ministry has established a powerful 20-member National Sports Election Panel, featuring former Chief Election Commissioners, to ensure transparent and fair electoral processes across all national sports bodies, a crucial step under the National Sports Governance Act 2025.
Key Points
- A 20-member National Sports Election Panel (NSEP) has been formed to oversee elections in Indian sports bodies.
- The panel includes two former Chief Election Commissioners, Achal Kumar Jyoti and Sunil Arora, along with other senior election officials.
- The NSEP's creation is mandated by the National Sports Governance Act 2025, aiming for free and fair elections.
- Major bodies like the IOA and AIFF are due for elections this year, which the NSEP will supervise.
- The deadline for applications to the National Sports Tribunal (NST), designed to resolve sports disputes, has been extended for the seventh time.
Two former Chief Election Commissioners of India feature in the 20-member National Sports Election Panel that would oversee the electoral process in the country's sports bodies going forward. The NSEP's formation was mandated by the National Sports Governance Act that was passed by the Parliament in 2025 and the Sports Ministry unveiled it on Thursday through a gazette notification.
"In exercise of the powers conferred by section 16 of the National Sports Governance Act, 2025 (25 of 2025), read with the National Sports Governance (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2026, the Central Government hereby notifies ... the members of the National Sports Election Panel for the purpose of section 16 of the said Act, to act as Electoral Officers for overseeing the conduct of free and fair elections of the National Sports Bodies," stated the Ministry notification.
Key Members Of The Election Panel
The former CECs, who have been named in the panel, are Achal Kumar Jyoti, whose one-year tenure ended in 2018, and Sunil Arora, who served a longer term from 2018 to 2021. Former Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey is another senior member of the panel, which was required to have a 20-strong roster. There are three former Deputy Election Commissioners of India in the panel -- Sandeep Saxena, Sudhir Tripathi, and Umesh Sinha.
Major sports bodies that are due to hold elections this year are the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and the All India Football Federation (AIFF) among others. The NSEP will nominate the Electoral Officer from its roster to oversee the conduct of polls for Executive Committees as well as athletes' commissions in the sports bodies. The NSEP's roster is to be maintained by the National Sports Board which is yet to take shape and the deadline for applications to positions in it has been extended more than once.
National Sports Tribunal Formation Delayed
The Sports Ministry, in another notification, has extended the deadline to submit applications for positions in the National Sports Tribunal by one month to October 11. It is the seventh such extension and continues the delay in NST's formation. Once instituted, the NST would be handling all sports disputes in the country, ending the prolonged legal battles that have affected sports administration and selection processes.
Full List Of National Sports Election Panel Members
Achal Kumar Jyoti, Former Chief Election Commissioner of India; Sunil Arora, Former Chief Election Commissioner of India; Anup Chandra Pandey, Former Election Commissioner of India; Alok Kumar, Former State Election Commissioner; Chandrashekhar Bhatt, Former State Election Commissioner; Dalip Singh, Former State Election Commissioner; Harish Chandra Joshi, Former State Election Commissioner; Narendra Kumar, Former Election Commissioner; R. Parasuram, Former State Election Commissioner; Rajeev Sharma, Former State Election Commissioner; S K Srivastava, Former State Election Commissioner; Sanjay Prasad, Former State Election Commissioner; Urvinder Pal Singh Madan, Former State Election Commissioner; Varesh Sinha, Former State Election Commissioner; Sandeep Saxena, Former Deputy Election Commissioner of India; Sudhir Tripathi, Former Deputy Election Commissioner of India; Umesh Sinha, Former Deputy Election Commissioner of India; Ajay V Nayak, Former Chief Electoral Officer; Ranbir Singh, Former Chief Electoral Officer; Umang Narula, Former Chief Electoral Officer.
